George R. and Barbara H. Burrus - Page 29

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          cattle breeding activity where no cattle inventory records kept).           
               Similarly, with respect to the financial ledgers for Maple             
          Row maintained by Mrs. Burrus, we find that these records, though           
          not flawless, represented a reasonably accurate attempt to record           
          the activity’s financial results.  Moreover, petitioners                    
          maintained separate bank accounts for the purpose of conducting             
          Maple Row’s affairs.  When cash was transferred from personal or            
          other accounts to Maple Row’s accounts, the transfer was recorded           
          in the ledgers.  Cf. id. (no separate bank account for cattle               
          activity).                                                                  
               Respondent’s expert postulated several criteria to which he            
          believed a profit-oriented purebred cattle breeding operation               
          would adhere, and found Maple Row’s practices at variance with              
          those criteria.  To the extent the expert’s testimony was                   
          intended to show that petitioners conducted their cattle breeding           
          activity in a manner not substantially similar to like activities           
          conducted for profit, we are unpersuaded.   Respondent’s expert             
          cited the need for genetically superior stock, but then opined              
          merely that he was unable to determine from the records provided            
          him whether petitioners had such stock.  In this regard, it is              
          worth noting that the expert cited in his report petitioners’               
          documentation to the effect that Maple Row had received the                 
          designation “1998 Top Recorders in Tennessee” for having                    





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